The total U.S. weight loss industry hit a new peak in 2018, growing 4% to $72 billion. The largest diet companies are shifting direction and changing ownership as Weight Watchers rebrands itself to its new name WW and focuses more on wellness, Jenny Craig is up for sale, NutriSystem gets acquired by Tivity Health, and Slim-Fast is acquired by Glanbia, a multilevel marketing firm.

Many have questioned whether China can move from "the world's factory” for consumer goods, electronics, and commodities, into technologically complex biologics.

It shouldn’t come as a surprise that biopharma in China is growing faster than many in the West have projected. A number of economic and development factors are contributing to this growth. But these have all been evolving for decades. 

So if there is a gap in Western (and in some cases China’s own internal) knowledge about this evolution, it should be put down to simply not paying enough attention.  

The global skincare market is fast growing and expansive, ranging from cosmetic products, to over-the-counter drugs, to prescription drugs. The global dermatology market (OTC and prescription) is vast and evolving quickly with forecasts that indicate a global market of €81.9 billion in 2028, growing significantly from €44.1 billion in 2018. The cosmetic skincare market size was valued at €130 billion in 2016.

The global pharmaceuticals market was worth $934.8 billion in 2017 and will reach $1170 billion in 2021, growing at 5.8%, according to a recent pharma market research report by The Business Research Company.

The global market for clinical trial services to biopharmaceutical, biotechnology, and medical device companies is forecast to grow at 12% year on year up to 2021, according to a new report. That is an acceleration from its rate of 10% up to 2017 which raised its value to $44.4 billion. The businesses that provide outsourcing in clinical trials are CROs.

As U.S. obesity rates climb and Americans age, more people are developing sleep apnea, restless leg syndrome, and other sleep disorders. Plus, stressors related to the volatile stock market, terrorism, mass shootings, health care, student debt, and protests against politicians are all resulting in more sleepless nights.

The US Federal Drug Administration is aiming to cut the time-to-market and the development costs for new drugs. This will help drive the market for biologics — where over 1,000 drugs are currently under development — to 9.6% year-on-year growth from its recent rate of 5.4%.

According to a new report from Irish research company GMR Data, the global healthcare packaging market will grow to $262bn by 2028, rising from $117.2bn across 2018.

The increasing demand for biologics, patent expiry of blockbuster molecules, and a limited number of potential products in the pipeline have driven companies to adopt new technologies such as single-use bioprocessing technologies which are cost-effective and enable the quick turnaround of products.